collect call
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of collect call
First recorded in 1965–70
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
An art project called the Goodbye Line prompts passersby to make a collect call and say goodbye — to a loved one, a pet or maybe a part of themselves.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 4, 2026
At long last, my client was allowed to make a tearful, five-minute collect call to his wife, in which he confirmed that he was alive and that he would be deported the next day.
From Slate • Apr. 2, 2017
At the beginning of “The Rain People,” Natalie makes a collect call to her husband from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, saying she has to get away.
From Washington Post • Mar. 2, 2017
In particular, he said a collect call McCullough made from the Rockford post office on the night when Maria disappeared showed that it would have been impossible for McCullough to have abducted the girl.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 5, 2016
“Operator, I want to make a collect call to Louis Gaither.”
From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
